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I hate CherryMax rivets

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

Well Known Member
I read and followed the Van's service bulletin on Cherry Max rivets, even ground down the side of a Stanley riveter to be sure it was straight when riveting the fuselage center section with those honking 4-8's. 12 each side. Van's sends you three extra.

It was still a **** shoot and there were far too many that I couldn't initially get the stem flush on the manufactured head side and snugged up on the shop head side.

Sure, I could drill them out and try again, which I did. But went through the supply to get 12 decent rivets.

Van's doesn't sell this size. Neither does Aircraft Spruce. Wick's charges $2 apiece because they'll sell you lead than 100. Finally went with Skygeek at $79 for 100.

It makes economic sense for me to just buy that expensive $139 Cherry Max riveter Van's says I Don't need.

It doesn't seem as though just any regular pop riveter you can buy is up to the task. So which specific model have you found will work every time on this size CherryMax?
 
I have pneumatic puller from Isham (planetools.com). I normally run around 70psi, but for the CM?s, I run it up to 90 psi and it works very well.
 
I ended up buying the expensive Cherrymax. The other two hand riveters I had didn't work.
 
Make sure your hole in your puller is very snug to the stem. A loose tip will not pull well, ask me how I know? You might even have to use an under size tip and drill it out to the size you need.
 
I?ve had mixed results with hardware store rivet pullers so I bought the cheapest manual Cherry Max puller I could at Aircraft Spruce. It works fine. On the other hand while helping a friend with his build I forgot to use it and the rivets pulled just fine with his HF pneumatic puller. Like I said I?ve had mixed results with pop rivet pullers.
 
I don't understand how someone can build a 12 without a pneumatic riveter....:eek:

As previously reported, keep the mandrel clearance snug, we modified the smallest one to fit the standard LP4-3 pull rivet, much better. That same ATS riveter pulls Cherry's without effort, either straight or using the adapteriser from Cleaveland. Makes a right bang though !
 
One potential problem that may occur with some blind rivet tools while using the wedge tool sold by Cleveland Tools is that because of the thickness of the wedge tool, the jaws of the puller tool only grab a small amount of the rivet stem causing it to slip and then prematurely break the stem before it fully sets.

If you make and use the small wedge's made from AEX wedge material as described in the construction manual (and likely the origin for the idea for the tool sold by Cleveland) id does away with the potential for this problem.
 
One potential problem that may occur with some blind rivet tools while using the wedge tool sold by Cleveland Tools is that because of the thickness of the wedge tool, the jaws of the puller tool only grab a small amount of the rivet stem causing it to slip and then prematurely break the stem before it fully sets.

If you make and use the small wedge's made from AEX wedge material as described in the construction manual (and likely the origin for the idea for the tool sold by Cleveland) id does away with the potential for this problem.

Are you referring to my particular problem? Because the way I read section 5 is the AEX wedge tool we make as, well, step one, is not a solution.

Not sure what the tool is that's sold by Cleveland Tools. I do have the puller noted above but that definitely will NOT work witht he cherrymax rivets as Van's instructions cautioned. So now I'm getting a little confused.
 
Also, one other question: Does the degree to which the "other" pop riveters will work depend on the length of the CherryMax rivet? For example, I set the 4-2's just fine with your typical run-of-the-mill Stanley Home Depot-bought puller. But not the 8's, at least not consistently.
 
Good point, however for ease of use, the Cleaveland tool wins hands down.

I reckon on our 2 12's, we have used the tool at least a thousand times during the build (only 500 rivets left !).

I accept that the AEX wedge is thinner, but it is fiddly to use.

We keep the jaws clean and lightly lubed and the mandrel hole tight and we haven't had any proud mandrel snaps yet. We do operate at 90psi all the time though, so they do get a sound pull :D
 
Good point, however for ease of use, the Cleaveland tool wins hands down.

I reckon on our 2 12's, we have used the tool at least a thousand times during the build (only 500 rivets left !).

I accept that the AEX wedge is thinner, but it is fiddly to use.

We keep the jaws clean and lightly lubed and the mandrel hole tight and we haven't had any proud mandrel snaps yet. We do operate at 90psi all the time though, so they do get a sound pull :D

I was specifically referring to problems with the cherry rivets because they have slightly shorter stems.
 

Are you referring to the wedge or the puller? Because that's the puller that Van's say will not work. Its instructions say nothing about using the AEX wedge that you make in the process (which would also angle the puller which Van's says you definitely don't want to do with CherryMax rivets).

So am I correct that we now are learning that if you use this tool or the wedge , which will angle either the puller or the stem, and use this tool that Van's says will not work.... it will work?

aye carumba, rucy. :confused:

Now, on the other hand, if some of you are referring to rivets other than CherryMAX rivets, stop talking. :*)
 
Are you referring to the wedge or the puller? Because that's the puller that Van's say will not work. Its instructions say nothing about using the AEX wedge that you make in the process (which would also angle the puller which Van's says you definitely don't want to do with CherryMax rivets).

So am I correct that we now are learning that if you use this tool or the wedge , which will angle either the puller or the stem, and use this tool that Van's says will not work.... it will work?

aye carumba, rucy. :confused:

Now, on the other hand, if some of you are referring to rivets other than CherryMAX rivets, stop talking. :*)

I thinks you are putting a bunch of different information/tidbits/comments together to come to an incorrect conclusion.
 
Is it me your looking for ..........

That's QUALITY comedy right there!! Quality!!

It's gold, Jerry. Gold.

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